MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[VOJ]

To Snow, SUM, VOJ - & the rest.. Ya'll are some serious hoops geeks to know the names of that many refs.

Why you gotta make everything personal, Drake? 8)

Those are my boys, I can say that affectionately to them.  In a non man-crush sorta way of course.  Wait a sec,  VOJ..hmm

Geez Drake...just when I thought you started to have my back...taking our posting relationship to a whole new level...

[Nites]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-kiddtraded021308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Our boy Devean is holding up the Kidd ransom. Really, Devin Harris, expiring contracts, Jerry Stackhouse, George, 3 million and two first-round draft picks for an aging point guard?

He got interviewed after the game last night (he started and went 0-11 in 30+ min.).  It's tough on him because the trade will cause him to lose his Larry Bird rights.  He feels bad, but he is right to squash things until his situation gets worked out.  The whole thing is really tough on him.  He seems like a good guy, and I sure like his game.

[big_shocker]

George is just working the system. When some guys hold out at the beginning of the season or sign with another team for more money, it's the same thing- they want to get a little more. Besides, with Larry Bird rights, George might free himself up to play a few more years at a solid pay. More power to him.

Besides, this might be the best thing for Dallas. I think the Mavs are giving up way too much.

[Nites]

George is just working the system. When some guys hold out at the beginning of the season or sign with another team for more money, it's the same thing- they want to get a little more. Besides, with Larry Bird rights, George might free himself up to play a few more years at a solid pay. More power to him.

Besides, this might be the best thing for Dallas. I think the Mavs are giving up way too much.

I agree with that.  I suppose part of what has to happen is that you have to give them equivalent salary value under the NBA salary cap restrictions. However, I don't know why they are giving up 2 number 1 draft picks.  You would almost think that a straight up Harris for Kidd deal would not be a bad deal.  Harris is a player and he's improving every year.  There may not be a quicker player in the league.  He can flat out motor and he's a great perimeter defender because he moves his feet exceptionally well and stays in front of the guy he is guarding.

The loss of Diop will hurt come playoff time because of his size.  It looks like they will bet Stackhouse back because NJ plans to buy out his contract with money the Mavs give them.  The Mavs can then resign him in 30 days, which should give his injured hamstring time to heal.  He just built a new house in Dallas and wants to stay so I think you will see him back in the Mavs lineup.  His stats aren't overly impressive, but he's a crunch time player and he gives the Mavs a toughness and attitude that they need.

[sumander]

It would appear to me the top three spots are set in the playoffs. UST should finish 18-2 although, they could fall as far as 16-4 with roads games at Cord and SJU. GAC is in likely at 16-4 maybe 15-5. Carleton would appear to be the front runner for the #3 spot. They are 10-7 with Mac @ home and at STOLAF & GAC. I say they finish at 12-8.

Spots 4-6 get real interesting. I think SJU and CORD end up tied at 11-9. Near as I can tell SJU by virtue of the 4th tiebreaker would be seeded higher than Cord.

However..................

Drake, it looks like your dream match up has a good shot at materializing. My crystal ball sez the final playoff spot will come down to  the battle of 10-9 AUG @ 10-9 BET on Saturday the 23!

Whoever wins would end up at 11-9 and tied with CORD & SJU.

I'll have to work through the tie breakers to figure out what happens when all of this comes to pass!

[VOJ]

Good bounce back by the J's last night...MAC has had a pretty tough year...not only do they not have a "true" home facility, but practices have been at 7:30 or 8pm and then its back to studying...Tough end to the careers of the seniors, namely ABE and Conboy...

J's need one more win to solidify playoff spot, hopefully it will come Saturday against Hamline...so Clute is definitely out? 

2/16/2008    Carleton   Macalester   Northfield, Minn. (CAR) 3 p.m. 
2/16/2008 * Hamline   Saint John's   St. Paul, Minn. (HU) 3 p.m. 
2/16/2008 * Saint Mary's   Bethel   Winona, Minn. 3 p.m. 
2/16/2008 * Augsburg   Concordia   Minneapolis 3 p.m. 
2/16/2008 * St. Olaf   Gustavus   Northfield, Minn. (STO) 3 p.m. 
2/20/2008 * Macalester   Bethel   St. Paul, Minn. (CSC) 5:45 p.m. 
2/20/2008 * Gustavus   Hamline   St. Peter, Minn. 7:30 p.m. 
2/20/2008 * Saint Mary's   Augsburg   Winona, Minn. 7:30 p.m. 
2/20/2008 * Concordia   St. Thomas   Moorhead, Minn. 7:30 p.m. 
2/20/2008 * St. Olaf   Carleton   Northfield, Minn. (STO) 7:45 p.m. 
2/23/2008 * Concordia   Saint Mary's   Moorhead, Minn. 3 p.m. 
2/23/2008 * Bethel   Augsburg   Arden Hills, Minn. 3 p.m. 
2/23/2008 * Gustavus   Carleton   St. Peter, Minn. 3 p.m. 
2/23/2008 * Saint John's   St. Thomas   Collegeville, Minn. 7:30 p.m. 
2/23/2008 * Macalester   Hamline   St. Paul, Minn. (UST) 7:45 p.m. 

Sum...I would not hand 3rd to the Knights just yet...I see them beating MAC...but the Oles still have something to play for and GAC is not just going to roll over and play dead...

Concordia has a tough end...a roady to Aug which is very much alive in the playoff chase and home to the  Tommies, they should be able to beat SMU at home...

Bethel...they might play their way out of the playoffs...roady to SMU and you know they are just lying in wait and will be extra motivated after what happend at Carleton...a winnable game at St. Kates against MAC and then the showdown with the Dogs...they could go 1-2 or 0-3

Johnnies are at Ham and then a week until they play UST at home...

Oles....gut check win over the Royals after trailing by 8 at the half...now they get the Gusties and Knights at home...their mind set has to be win and we are in, this is similiar to runs they have made in the past as Koz works some late Feb magic...

So what does it spell out...EXCITEMENT!!!  You can't beat the way things are setting up this year...11-9 looks like enough to get in, 10-10 and you might be riding the tie breaker bubble...

[piperinsider]

J's need one more win to solidify playoff spot, hopefully it will come Saturday against Hamline...so Clute is definitely out?

I think Prophet said Clute played last night.

Edit: He did, playing 25 minutes, shooting 2-for-7 for eight points.

While looking that up, Rhobelle Tekle: 0-5 shooting, 5 turnovers, 0 assists. Ouch.

[Drake Palmer]

Based on the last 2 posts along with mine, looks a few posters have been analyzing the playoff picture at work this morning. 

1+1 looks like eleven,

Or get an eleven, & you'll get playoff heaven.

I've been thinking for several weeks now that the playoff picture won't be settled until the last weekend of the regular season.  Obviously, the Gusties & Tommies are both in the playoffs.  So for the rest of the teams, I think the magic number appears to be 11.  If any of the remaining six teams in contention - CARL, CORD, SJU, STO, BET & AUGS can reach 11 conference wins – I think they're in playoff heaven.   

10-7 teams: CARL & CORD. Both teams need to go 1-2 in their 3 games.

CARL                            CORD
(Mac, @ Oles, @GAC)   (@AUGS, UST, SMU)

10-8 Team: SJU - Need to go 1-1

(@ HAM & UST + its senior night for the Johnnie seniors – yikes)

********************************
9-9 Team: STO - Needs to go 2-0

(GAC, CARL)

8-9 Teams: AUG & BET Need to go 3-0

AUG                                     BET
(CORD, @SMU, @BET)         (@SMU, MAC & AUG)

I know what happens when you assume, but for the 3 teams that currently have 10 wins or more, I think they're in pretty good shape & it's just a matter of where they finish up in the playoff standings. So that takes care of spots 3-5.

Then that leaves 3 teams vying for the 6th & final spot – the Oles, Dawgs & Royals.  Stranger things have happened, but realistically, I only see one of these teams going either 2-0 or 3-0 to cap off the regular season.  Although the Oles at 9-9 have a half game lead over Augsburg & Bethel, they've got a tough row to hoe & on paper have the toughest remaining games. . They were decisively beaten by the Gusties at St. Peter & won a nailbiter with their next-door neighbor, the Carlies.  The Knights now have Jeremy Sutherland back in their lineup & they're trying to secure home court advantage for the opening playoff round.  The Ole- Carlie game could be next Wednesday's highlight game of the day

Dawgs have got the next toughest schedule.  The big, old burly Cobbers come to town on Saturday, the surprisingly resilient young SMU team & then potentially for all the marbles in a Battle Royale, oops I mean Bethel Royale against Bethel.

On paper, the Royals have the easiest schedule- @ SMU, MAC & AUGS.  But I'm thinking their collective team psyche must be sorta battered by now.  Last night against the Oles they had a 12 or 13 point lead with about 12 minutes left in the game & lost in OT.  Maybe there's a tattered copy of Chicken Soup for Hoopers lying around that they can read between now & Saturday or on the way down to Winona on Saturday.  The Redbirds might be dangerous right about now, & can basically let it all hang out.  SMU "woulda, coulda shoulda" won the game against Carleton last Saturday & spanked Hamline on Monday night.

3 teams at 10-10 gets real interesting. Someone else will have to figure that one out.

My hunch tells me that at best the Oles split or lose both games, so they would end up 10-10 or 9-11.

And my hunch is that over at the Dawg pound  - they're hacked.  More to come.

[Drake Palmer]

Here's a double play...

Last night on the way to a basketball game, a hockey scrum broke out.  I heard from two different Tommie backers (TB1 & TB2) last night, & I guess the Dawgs & Tommies' game got a bit chippy.  By the way UST won, 72-60.    Augsburg's Femi Solaja & Nate Alm both foul out & Jon Cassens ends up with 4 fouls.  Since I wasn't in attendance to see it with my own eyes, I'll do a Cliff Notes type summary to protect the innocent, & let someone else bring up the specific details if they would like.

Apparently at one point a Tommie player got a bit physical (an errant elbow) with an Augsburg player, no foul was called & an Augsburg coach yells out at the Tommie & says something to the effect:

"'X" you're a better player than that, why the cheap shot?!?"  Yells at the ref & no call was made.

After the game is over & the teams line up for the customary post-game handshake, the same Auggie coach exchanges a few more heated words with the Tommie player & refuses to shake his hand.

TB1 (Tommie backer):  seems to think the AUGS coach was a bit out of line & thinks the Tommies coaching staff & team will express their displeasure when they meet again.

TB2: Thought there might have been very strong cause for the Auggie coach's righteous indignation & wrath directed toward the Tommie player, but the coach handled the situation poorly.  I heard something too about helicopter parents hovering around around the court afterwards in a full-out protect mode as well.  Something about don't mess with Mama Goose, or Mama Bear.

Sounds like I could have seen two games for the price of one last night.   

[TommieHoops4Life]

I will laugh hysterically if the preseason MIAC favorite for a majority of us posters ends up not even making the playoffs. Congrats to the Tommies on clinching at least a share of the title last night.

Kelvin Sampson is a complete embarrassment to college basketball. You'r already on the chopping block at Indiana for violations at Oklahoma, then you do the same thing and lie about it in Hoosier land??? Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee sound like two little kids trying to explain to their parents who pushed who down the stairs.

[Willy Wonka]

I will laugh hysterically if the preseason MIAC favorite for a majority of us posters ends up not even making the playoffs. Congrats to the Tommies on clinching at least a share of the title last night.

TH4L - Every single poster predicted Bethel would win the title. Except Wonka. Nuff said.

How does a team outrebound an opponent by 18, hold that opponent to 36% shooting and blow an 8-point halftime lead to a "lesser" team? Easy — 17 turnovers and 4-18 shooting on 3s. The more Bethel changes the more it stays the same.

Did the Tim Madson MVP bandwagon break an axle or what? Sure, they may have lost again...but he had 21 points last night!!!

[sumander]

I will laugh hysterically if the preseason MIAC favorite for a majority of us posters ends up not even making the playoffs. Congrats to the Tommies on clinching at least a share of the title last night.

Was going to pose this question earlier.....For those that have been following the MIAC for longer than I have....When was the last time a preseason favorite (like BET this year) fell on their face this bad to the point where they are fighting for their playoff lives?

[Drake Palmer]

I will laugh hysterically if the preseason MIAC favorite for a majority of us posters ends up not even making the playoffs. Congrats to the Tommies on clinching at least a share of the title last night.

Was going to pose this question earlier.....For those that have been following the MIAC for longer than I have....When was the last time a preseason favorite (like BET this year) fell on their face this bad to the point where they are fighting for their playoff lives?

That's the signal for Mose to cue up the MIAC time machine. 

[concordia of the north]

Sumander:

i think if the Johnnies and Cobbs are tied at the end of the regular season, the tie-breaker goes to Concordia.  I believe the third most important criteria is the "record above by rank order" and the Cobbs beat GAC.  if SJU beats UST in their last game, it would give them the break.

cobbs and johnnies split their head to head, cobbs go 1-2 (thus far) versus the top two teams, while the johnnies go 0-3 (thus far).

[sumander]

Sumander:

i think if the Johnnies and Cobbs are tied at the end of the regular season, the tie-breaker goes to Concordia.  I believe the third most important criteria is the "record above by rank order" and the Cobbs beat GAC.  if SJU beats UST in their last game, it would give them the break.

cobbs and johnnies split their head to head, cobbs go 1-2 (thus far) versus the top two teams, while the johnnies go 0-3 (thus far).

CoN, My bad. You are correct.